Snow Lake Resources Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Epiroc Canada Inc for Epiroc to assist with the technical and commercial design of the world’s first fully electric lithium mine at the company’s Snow Lake LithiumTM project in Manitoba, Canada. In addition, the company provided an update on its ongoing drilling campaign and the continued interception of high-grade results from the Thompson Brother (TBL) dyke.
As part of its collaboration with the company, Epiroc will contribute to the review of site planning and design for Snow Lake’s planned fully electric lithium mine and will give technical and engineering advice for the project’s overall development. Snow Lake said: “Epiroc has a long history of offering innovative and safe equipment, as well as automation, digitalisation, and electrification solutions to the industry. Epiroc has exhibited a remarkable aptitude in project coordination and vertical integration, as seen by its recent achievement in the Borden Mine project in Chapleau, Canada, which is the first all-electric gold mine in the world.”
“The MOU with Epiroc is a significant step forward in Snow Lake’s goal of commercial lithium production, as it allows the two companies to form a synergistic partnership that will draw on years of deep industry experience and technological understanding,” said Philip Gross, CEO and Chairman of Snow Lake. “We look forward to collaborating with Epiroc and advancing Snow Lake’s role as an integral component of the North American EV ecosystem.”
Jason Smith, Integration Manager of Epiroc North America commented, “Epiroc is looking forward to collaborating with Snow Lake Lithium to help develop and execute an all-electric mining operation. Our partnership’s purpose is to support the company’s environmental activities while also increasing operational efficiency at all phases of the mine’s development. We are excited to build on what we can offer with our Meglab competencies coupled with the Epiroc equipment technology and operational presence within the region. We see this as a great opportunity to play our part to position Snow Lake as the cleanest lithium supplier for the North American EV and battery markets.”
Snow Lake had earlier signed an MOU with Val-d’Or, Quebec-based Meglab, which is now part of Epiroc. Meglab’s technologies include the MegaCharge™, an all-in-one mine charging solution for underground and surface charging of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). It is a multi-channel charging solution with Medium Voltage direct connectivity. It connects from 4.16 kV to 13.8 kV. No additional infrastructure is required to provide power to the charging station (self sufficient) which reduces the overall space required. One MegaCharge™ can be used to charge two vehicles and up to 18 vehicles. MegaCharge™ is scalable meaning that the mine can start by purchasing only one charging section and add more to upgrade later. The dispensers (up to 18) can be installed up to 150 m away from the charging station.
The MOU collaboration comes in tandem with the recent drill results that have been intercepted at the Thompson Brothers Lithium (TBL) dyke and Sherritt Gordon (SG) dyke. The TBL dyke continues to return high grade lithium intercept of 1.53% Li2O over 24.94 m from hole TBL-038. Drilling at the SG Dyke returned narrow intercepts of 1.14% Li2O over 1.35 m and 0.92 Li2O over 2.95 m from SPG-003.
TBL-038 represents an infill hole into the TBL resource block with the purpose of confirming continuity of the TBL deposit and solidifying the future resource modeling. The TBL-038 hole will also be used as part of the ongoing metallurgical test work being conducted by SGS Lakefield.
Dale Shultz, Snow Lake’s Project Manager and VP of Resource Development, commented: “With the high-grade intercepts we have received across our TBL and SG dykes, the Company is looking forward to completing the requisite validation for resource expansion and definition. We will test and assess the drill intercepts we have collected to-date for mineral resource continuity, which we will use in our analysis to ensure geology and grade quality. We are excited to continue our ongoing drilling program and to report back to the market on the results we obtain in the coming months.”
The Snow Lake LithiumTM property encompasses several lithium-rich spodumene pegmatite dykes which tend to form in clusters. The presently known dykes are found on the east and west sides of a body of water known as Crowduck Bay in Manitoba, Canada, which is joined to Wekusko Lake to the South West. There are two known pegmatites on the east side of a narrow part of the southern end of Crowduck Bay which are called the Thompson Brothers Lithium dyke (TBL), and the Brian Youngs Pegmatite dyke (BYP).
The TBL dyke contains an S-K 1300 compliant resource estimate dated June 9, 2021 of an Indicated Resource of 9,082,600 t of lithium bearing ore grading 1.00% Li2O, and an Inferred Resource of 1,967,900 t of lithium bearing ore grading 0.98% Li2O. On the west side of Crowduck bay are two recently drill tested dykes known as the Sherritt Gordon dyke (SG) and the Grass River Pegmatite dyke (GRP), which recently drill tested an intercept of 3.35% Li2O. Although originally considered as unique geological events, the company now believes these dykes to be one large cluster of pegmatites that could provide an ideal starter pit using an open pit mining method. It is the company’s vision to build this resource to a 25-year mine life initially utilising an open pit and progressing to an underground mining scenario.
